Thinking (and linking) over lunch

♦ That sound you may have heard earlier today was from the Brandon Inge Haters Club, lamenting his new contract extension (four years, $24.4 million) from the Detroit Tigers.

Some people point to Inge's error totals and say he's a poor defensive third baseman. Others (a group in which I include myself) say he gets to balls that most other guys at his position wouldn't come near. Yes - sometimes that leads to errors, and he makes some throws he probably shouldn't, but knocking down balls that would otherwise go to the outfield saves quite a few runs, too.

To me, that defensive ability makes up for his offensive shortcomings. No, he's not Aramis Ramirez and probably never will be. He's the Tigers' ninth-place hitter, and is hardly the easy out often expected at that position. And hey, Detroit isn't paying Inge $15 million a season, either.

Here's more from The Detroit Tigers Weblog.

♦ Speaking of contract extensions, Brian at Beyond Boxscores thinks the Tigers need to work out a deal with Jeremy Bonderman - and pronto. When you see the deals handed out to middle-of-the-road starters like Vincente Padilla, Ted Lilly, and Gil Meche, it's hard to argue such a good point.

Given what Bonderman's achieved at his age, he'd attract some serious interest on the open market, and the Tigers should be lock him up before it gets to that point. They're smart, proactive guys over there, right?

♦ ESPN.com's Keith Law compares Gil Meche's five-year, $55 million deal with the Royals to what the Tigers did two years ago with Magglio Ordonez.

Is this an indication, by the way, that baseball's revenue-sharing plan is working? Kansas City giving a five-year deal, at $10 million a season, to a starting pitcher? (The Big Lead seems to think it's making things worse.)

♦ Nothing makes me smile more than Mike McClary's persistence in wanting the Tigers to get rid of Craig Monroe. As I've said before, the man deserves credit for consistency in his beliefs.

And now, Mike has Billfer on his side, too - though with a bit less fervor.

♦ Did the Tigers pick up Jamie Walker's replacement in yesterday's Rule 5 draft? What can be expected from young Edward Campusano? 81 strikeouts in 55 1/2 innings. Here's more from TigerBlog (who warns not to get too excited about those K numbers).

(Tip o' the cap to Tiger Tales)

♦ Sifting through all the transactions and rumors from the Baseball Winter Meetings, I'm thinking the best deal made in Orlando is the Braves trading Horacio Ramirez for Rafael Soriano. Suddenly, Atlanta's bullpen - which has been an annual weakness, and may have been the difference in knocking them out of the NL Wild Card race - could be looking pretty good.

I'm not sure the Mets are sweating it, though. And I don't know why the Mariners would trade Soriano. But I might be biased because he was very good to my fantasy baseball team mid-season.

Oh, my Craig Monroe!!!

The grand slam against the White Sox was big. The 10th-inning single that beat Minnesota was huge. The eighth-inning home run against Cleveland? Also very, very large.

I've written about Craig Monroe's late-inning magnificence on three previous occasions, and each time, I told myself there are no more ways to describe his mastery of the clutch.

And then he goes and does this.

A three-run homer in the top of the ninth? With two outs? In Yankee Stadium? In a September game that really matters?

I'm not even going to try and capture this man's heroic exploits anymore. Because earthly words can no longer do justice to his feats. Craig Monroe has transcended the ability of mortal language to accurately portray his greatness.



They can start doing Tigers' play-by-play on Mount Olympus. Or Zeus better start blogging. At the very least, he should give up his place on the throne to Craig Monroe. The dude is swinging a thunderbolt.

I was on the phone with Brian of Beyond Boxscores during that ninth inning. Here's an excerpt from that conversation:

"So what are you doing for the holiday?"

"Oh, I don't know... we might have a cookout, invite over some--

"OHMYGOD!!!! OH!! MY!! GOD!!!"

"HOLY $#!+!!!"

"NO!!"

"DID HE... ?

"YES, HE DID! YES, HE DID!"

"WHOOOOOOO!!!!"

After reliving that exchange, I realize that there's something the language of mortal men can do to pay homage to Craig Monroe. We can change the modern vernacular. I know old habits are hard to break. But please give this some consideration.

I'm talking about exclamation. What can you say the next time you get that overdraft notice from the bank? I'm sorry - let's think a little happier. What can you scream the next time you have an orgasm? Okay, maybe that's a bit extreme. How about the next time you're in disbelief and feel the need to share? We know what you used to say. But try tweaking it a bit, to invoke our new higher power.

"OH, MY CRAIG MONROE!"

How does that work for you? I think it has potential. It's certainly appropriate, no? I bet several Detroit Tigers were screaming it tonight. Scott Proctor may have been sobbing it through tears into his glove. Give it a try this holiday weekend, and see what happens. Get back to me later. Tell me how others respond.

And Craig? You keep doing that thing that you do.

Only delaying the inevitable?

After Mike McClary generously mentioned my "crusade" (actually, it's really more of a nudge) to give Craig Monroe a tag worthy of his clutch-hitting mastery on The Daily Fungo Podcast last week, I was hoping to have a hot, fresh update on his nickname situation for you.

Unfortunately, I was thwarted in my attempts to learn if Monroe's teammates had slapped any creative handles on him.

I can't complain. (Okay, I may have complained to one or five people during my drive home. But I assure you it was polite.) As credentialed media (thanks, Motor City Sports Magazine - August issue on newsstands now), I still got to sit in the Comerica Park press box on Monday night. But since the story I was working on didn't require speaking to anyone in the Tigers' clubhouse, I wasn't allowed in that area of the ballpark. I'm not arguing. There was no reason for me to have that access.

Was I disappointed? Certainly. I had a wonderful spiel prepared for Mr. Monroe. Alas, it wasn't to be. If I'm fortunate enough to make at least one more credentialed trip to Comerica Park this season, I can only hope that clubhouse access is part of the package. Because if Craig Monroe was given a sweet nickname by his teammates (especially if it was slightly dirty), we should know about it.

We, the People!

Okay, seriously - give this guy a nickname

As Rod Allen excitedly blurted into his microphone last night, "CRAIGDIDITAGAIN!!!" (At least I think that's what he said. A bit hard to make out, in all the excitement.)

This has now gone from "Hey, that's an idea" to "Why hasn't it happened already?"

Even Mike McClary has buckled under the recent onslaught of important hits from Craig Monroe's bat, and is now ready to give the man his due status.

Monroe needs a nickname. And we'll have to do it ourselves, because outlets like ESPN apparently think David Ortiz is the only guy who comes up with big hits in important moments.

Ask the other teams in the AL Central what they think about Monroe in the clutch. The White Sox, Twins, and now, the Indians have each found themselves on the business end of Craig's late-inning six-shooter.

Beginning in the sixth, the Tigers began to chip away at the Indians' six-run lead. 5-2. Then, 6-4. How about 6-5? And after Fernando Cabrera (hey, at least it wasn't Carmona, Tribe fans) served up an inside pitch that Monroe hit deep, but foul, he put the next one right over the plate. 7-6. The legend continues.

Give the man a nickname.

And I'm not talking about this "C-Mo" stuff that I heard tossed around the broadcast booth and clubhouse after the game. The whole first-initial-combined-with-first-syllable-of-the-last-name nickname trend is played out. We can be more original than that, can't we?

Samela tagged him with "Craiggers" a couple of years ago, and that's nice, but it doesn't capture the majesty and epic nature of Monroe's latest feats.

So I'll put my brain to it today and if I can come up with anything. I'll be at the Tigers-Twins game on Monday as "media" for Motor City Sports Magazine, so maybe I can see if any nicknames have been thrown around the clubhouse. Otherwise, please feel free to leave suggestions in the comments.

Meanwhile, I didn't catch all of the game (a negligence that also afflicted Billfer and Kurt last night), but a couple of arbitary thoughts about the Indians struck me:

1) This Shin-Soo Choo kid can play! Last week, I said "Shin-Soo Who?" (yeah, I'm sure that was original) when I saw that Cleveland had traded Ben Broussard for him. But between the pop he's shown at the plate, and that agonizingly impressive diving catch he made on Magglio Ordonez in the eighth, I'm taking notice.

2) Andy Marte has a gun at third base. I know he hasn't hit for squat since being called up from Triple-A, but did you see the play he made in the sixth? After snagging Brandon Inge's hot shot down the third-base line, from behind the bag - and in foul territory - Marte zings a throw to first that Casey Blake catches chest-high. Inge was safe, but not by much.

Am I overestimating that throw? Too easily impressed by a play other third basemen have made? Are you sure? How many guys would've bounced that throw to first? Again, it hit Blake's glove at his chest. Once that guy starts hitting (and he looks like a 40-homer guy in the making), watch out.

Time to give him a nickname?

It's probably a bit too early to propose giving Craig Monroe the nickname "Clutch" - and that could make The Daily Fungo nauseous - but the man has come up with two damn important hits over the past week that led to two huge wins over AL Central opponents.

Francisco Liriano was as good as advertised. There were a few times I was fuming over the high strike Bill Welke was giving him, but I suppose Welke did call it both ways. Zach Miner's pitches just weren't smoking by the Twins' hitters. But he did his best to match Liriano on the scoreboard and keep the Tigers in the game. That gave the Tigers a chance to see if they could beat the Twins' bullpen instead.

And once Monroe yanked that clutch single down the left-field line off Juan Rincon in the 10th inning, Detroit won one of the games in this series they were likely expected to lose.

Plenty more post-game analysis to be found in the Tigers-Twins corner of the blogosphere:

▪▪ Thank You Brian Sabean notes that each time the Tigers put runs on the board, a grounder past Luis Castillo fueled the score. Could a younger Castillo have made those plays?

▪▪ The aforementioned Daily Fungo sings the praises of Zach Miner (as does Mack Avenue Tigers) and Bert Blyleven, while pondering Joe Nathan's approach to the Tigers hitters.

▪▪ Todd's Twins, along with questioning age's effect on Castillo, laments the lack of patience at the plate, especially by Justin Morneau.

▪▪ The Detroit Tigers Weblog wonders why Detroit's hitters were so impatient against Liriano, yet made Nathan and Rincon work so hard later in the game. (Credit goes to Liriano's stuff.) Also, Billfer tips his cap to the Tigers' bullpen.

With one mighty swing...

Had I posted yesterday, I would've made a joke about the Tigers suffering a power outage, like many other thousands (including me) in metro Detroit during Monday night's thunderstorms.

One run against Jon Garland? Ouch. That's enough to get a general manager on the phone to ask for Alfonso Soriano.

And last night, after Jeremy Bonderman gave up home runs to Joe Crede and Jose Uribe, while everything off the Detroit bats seemed to land in White Sox gloves, you might have been entitled to wonder just what the Tigers had to do to beat these guys. As Rod Allen said (dutifully transcribed by Big Al), the world champs were flexing their muscles. How would the challengers respond?

Do any of you guys watch Deadwood? Something similar happened in an episode two weeks ago. (Here's a blow-by-blow account from a guy with too much time on his hands.) There was a big brawl between the main villains' muscle men. But one was clearly more imposing than the other. Everyone expected the smaller guy to get pounded, if not killed. And once his face was being held underneath a puddle of mud, the outcome appeared certain. Even the smaller guy's boss was resigned to defeat, slumping with resignation and embarrassment.

But it didn't end there. He wasn't going down like that. So he fought his way out of the predicament, got back up to settle things, and (with the help of some dirty tactics) finally beat the man who looked unbeatable.

It's amazing what one swing of the bat can do, eh?

I went from slouching in my armchair to standing up and cheering, once Craig Monroe yanked a ball down the left-field line for a grand slam. (Is anyone else more impressed by a home run when it goes over Comerica Park's old left-field fence?) I imagine the fans at the ballpark were roused from their malaise a bit earlier, with the bases loaded and the possibility of something big about to occur.

And that's exactly what happened. From down and beaten to proud and still fighting. It was a triumphant moment, one that could make you believe that something bigger and better might be in store for this team.

Let me know if I'm overstating this. But hasn't it been happening all season? Just when you think these guys might finally fall back to not-ready-for-prime-time status, they show that they're not going down that easily. I know we've moved beyond the "bona fide" questions with the Tigers, but it's always nice to see some affirmation.

From there, Detroit's pitching was outstanding. Bonderman kept the White Sox in check until the eighth inning. And each of Jim Leyland's calls to the bullpen worked out beautifully, particularly bringing in Jamie Walker to face Jim Thome in the ninth.

Can the Tigers carry that winning feeling into this afternoon's rubber match? We'll see. But at least they know they won't be pushed around.